As the NBA reaches its midpoint following the recently concluded All-Star Break in February, the 2024-25 season has already proven to be both thrilling and full of drama.

Despite the tightly contested standings and a trade deadline featuring some of the biggest deals in the league’s storied history, perhaps one of the defining storylines of the season has been the NBA’s plummeting television ratings.

An early-season report on the NBA’s national viewership revealed that the league’s main broadcast partners were seeing a 19% decrease in viewers compared to the previous season. While ratings have rebounded due to the conclusion of the NFL and MLB seasons, the league still finds itself in a substantial ratings deficit with a 5% decrease as of February 2025.

Commissioner Adam Silver has regularly addressed the ratings concerns. In an interview back in December 2024, he cited the declining prevalence of cable television as a driving factor of the league’s low viewership.

“We’re almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television,” said Silver.

Nonetheless, the narrative of declining interest in NBA basketball has sustained. Social media negativity shapes discourse of how the game is played and the league is presented, creating serious issues for the long-term prosperity of basketball’s most popular league.

As a lifelong fan of the NBA and basketball, it’s disheartening to see the league, players, and sport I so dearly love be talked about in such a negative manner. While some blame the high volume of three-point shooting or the lack of defense contributing to a lackluster product, I believe the low ratings reflect the league’s inability to effectively present itself.

One overarching factor influencing the league’s mitigating intrigue is the notion that the NBA itself is a negativity-induced product. Those representing and covering the league from the media level hyper-focus their marketing strategies on the drama that arises throughout the course of the 82-game season. Debates over “so-and-so is better than so-and-so” or “this wasn’t how basketball was played in the 90s” arise constantly and create a discourse fueled by polarization.

Sports are bound to create friendly levels of tension and one-sidedness. But in today’s age of social media, arguments are not centered around team pride and fandom. Instead, it’s about someone being right and everyone else being wrong, and the NBA prides itself on maintaining a social media presence which in turn threatens the purity of the sport itself.

Another key component of the poor presentation lies within the broadcasting side of NBA basketball. It’s no secret that today’s sports journalism has shifted towards promoting the individual creators or journalists as opposed to the topics they cover. Whether it be for local or national TV networks, production sets clearly seem to prioritize their on-air talent throughout the course of their pre, intra, and postgame programs.

Despite basketball being an inherently fast-paced and action-packed sport, television color commentators and analysts often introduce a variety of topics that are in no way related to the game. While this can be a go-to tactic to help uplift the dullness of a complete and utter blowout from time to time, there’s no reason to be making small talk in the fourth quarter of a five-point game. It makes the viewing experience feel like listening to a mindless podcast rather than an insightful play-by-play.

I believe there’s a simple answer to why these factors contribute to the decline in television ratings: basketball fans want to watch and talk about basketball. Shocking, right?

Commissioner Silver seems to constantly be searching for new rule changes or promotional projects to enhance league interest and fan engagement. In this endless quest to be innovative, there’s a legitimate sense of stubbornness on behalf of Silver and those covering the NBA to recognize that their product sells itself.

While everyone may have different reasons for tuning into an NBA game on any given night, whether they want to watch their favorite player or team or need some sort of outlet from the outside noise of reality, there’s a shared desire amongst all potential viewers to watch the sport they love. If the NBA wants to reinvigorate interest in the league and elevate their depleted ratings, the best possible solution is to keep the focus on basketball and basketball alone.